Chandler will vote on incentives to land Voya Financial and 1,000 jobs

Update: The Chandler City Council approved the development agreement in a 6-1 vote Thursday. Councilman Sam Huang, who raised concerns about how the city doles out incentives, voted against it.

Voya Financial plans to build a financial operations center and bring more than 1,000 new jobs to Chandler, according to a development agreement that will go before the Chandler City Council this week.

The New York-based company is the latest to join Arizona’s growing business and financial services sector.

The City Council, in a study session Monday, will discuss the deal in which Chandler would reimburse Voya $530,000 for job creation if it agrees to build a financial operations center in the city.

A council vote is expected Thursday.

The company is eyeing Chandler’s Price Road Corridor, an employment center near loops 101 and 202. The facility would open in spring 2020.

"We welcome Voya to Chandler with open arms," Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke told The Arizona Republic. "In addition to bringing great job opportunities to the city, they are committed to giving back philanthropically as well. We look forward to working closely with them in the years to come."

Paying for higher-wage jobs

As part of the development agreement, Voya agreed to establish a financial operations center at a location with at least 145,000 square feet of office space near Price and Germann roads and hire 1,060 new employees within six years, according to city documents.

Price Road in Chandler was named for Arthur Ernest Price, Chandler's first Justice of the Peace who also helped draft the town's first charter.(Photo11: Weldon B. Johnson/The Republic)

Chandler would reimburse Voya $530,000 over seven years for hiring, training and relocating the employees to Chandler. That includes the city reimbursing the company $500 for any position with an average annual salary of $46,000 or more, according to the deal.

The company has been operating out of a temporary location in Tempe while it searched for a permanent home. Those employees would relocate to Chandler once the new operations center opens and the positions would be eligible for city reimbursement.

About 200 people from Voya’s investment-management business already work at another, permanent location in Scottsdale. Employees in the Scottsdale office will not be relocated.

The new facility will include a call center, back-office and customer-support positions in the areas of retirement, insurance and employee benefits. The company also will add jobs in human resources, information technology and business support.

The new jobs are expected to result in a payroll benefit of more than $54 million annually, according to city documents.

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Voya and the landlord have also agreed to invest a minimum of $34 million in lease payments, tenant improvements, including a parking garage, and information technology infrastructure.

The agreement says Voya would be required to reimburse the city for payments if the company left Chandler before Dec. 31, 2024.

Voya joins investment giants in Phoenix area

Voya joins other large investment-management companies operating in metro Phoenix.

USAA is the 42nd largest non-government employer in Arizona with about 4,000 workers, primarily in north Phoenix, according to the Republic 100 report published last April. Charles Schwab employees about 3,900 people and Vanguard has about 3,000 employees locally.

Voya has 6,000 employees and 13.8 million customers, according to the company. The Chandler location would become one of the company’s largest regional hubs.

The company generates most of its business from retirement services, investment management, life insurance and employee benefits.